Leslie Horn

It's Presidents' Day, the annual Monday in February when we close our banks and sleep in to honor our leaders. But who was the first early-adopter-in-chief to use a telephone? To ride in a car? To send an email? Here's a look back at which of our 44 presidents have been on the forefront of technology.

In 1833, Andrew Jackson became the first commander-in-chief to ride a train, or—as it was known at the time—an Iron Horse.

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Before Andrew Jackson running water installed the White House that same year, people had to haul the stuff in with buckets.

A ride in a steam-powered motor carriage made William Mckinley the first U.S. head of state to ride in a car in 1843. However, Teddy Roosevelt was the first prez to ride in a car while he was actually in office.

Image credit: Wikipedia

John Quincy Adams had already completed his term as president, but he became the first to have his picture snapped in 1843 when he was serving in the House of Representatives. He looks utterly bewildered.

Though the telephone was invented while Ulysses S. Grant was in office, Rutherford B. Hayes was the first to have one installed in the White House.

In 1891, Benjamin Harrison was the first president to have the White House wired for electricity. But he was wary of the technology, and he and his wife were so scared of the switches that they just kept on using gas lights.

Because he was basically a superhero, Theodore Roosevelt was the first president to ride in an airplane, at an air show in St. Louis in 1910.

Woodrow Wilson screened the first movie in the White House in 1915. His choice? The Birth of a Nation, a hate-mongering tale that depicts the KKK as the saviors of the country. It also happens to be one of the most-banned films of all time.

It seems odd, because he was born in 1924, but 39th president Jimmy Carter was actually the first president to be born in a hospital.

At the opening of the World's Fair in NYC in 1939, FDR became the first to appear on television, but only people in New York could see it. The first nationwide presidential address was given by Harry S. Truman in 1947.